Joni, Judith & friends took a trip to
New York City last weekend to see Kate in "Our Leading Lady". Joni submitted
the following report. Many thanks to all of them for sharing their experience
and special thanks to Joni for a wonderful report!

Links to this page are welcome but please
do not repost without permission. If you have a report to share please
e-mail the webmaster at totallykate@gmail.com

The longer version - a weekend filled
with friends, fun, food, fabulous theater and Kate - what more could anyone
wish for!

After a day of touring and shopping, we found
a spot that looked appealing for dinner and called a friend who we were
planning to meet for the show and invited her to meet us. She reached
us in time for a drink and then gave us the low down for getting to the
theater in time to get good seats. We reached the theater and started
the line for seating. Some may say we were obsessed, but I think
we were just excited. Very shortly they let us into the building
to wait near the theater entrance when another friend joined us.
I think the staff were laughing at our excitement, but what the heck!
At ten after seven , they opened the door for seating and we had front
row middle seats. We all turned off our cell phones for the performance
as we didn't want to get the Janeway death glare if they went off during
the show. It was getting closer to curtain time, and who should walk
by and sit at the end of the row, but Ethan Phillips! We were trying
to act nonchalant about it but one of our group was pounding my arm and
whispering “There’s the Doctor!” I quietly turned to her and said,
“No, it’s Neelix.” She had mistaken them in a moment of excitement.
We were warned by the staff to watch our feet, as the set spun around in
front of us and they didn’t want us to get hurt. Finally the lights
went down and the show began!

The first act was hectic and a bit silly,
but very entertaining none the less. What an interesting cast - and
of course Kate was fantastic. In fact, if we had been thinking faster,
we could have gotten our programs up in time to catch the flying spray
from one of Kate’s dialogues and sold it on ebay for gobs of money, we
were that close! The second act was much more sober, and quite impressive,
Kate’s monologue being the highlight! I was sad to see it end, since
I could have watched them all night. We waited with a few others
outside to see if Kate would come out, and we didn’t want to interfere
with her reunion with Mr. Phillips. The other actors trickled out
as they finished tidying up for the day. They were all very nice
and personable and willing to sign autographs or just thank us for expressing
our admiration. Finally, Kate arrived! There was a small group
of people clamoring for her autograph so I stood back nervously waiting
for my turn. The other theater had just let out, so there was a mob
of people going back and forth. Kate had Ethan by the arm and was
walking away with him, when I stepped up and asked if I could give her
a gift. She said sure and asked me my name. I was all flustered
and said it was from Judith and me and that we were friends of Carol LaPlante's.
She took my hand to shake it and asked for my name again. I said
Joni, and that we enjoyed the show. She thanked us for coming and
then went on her way. WOW! As we turned to walk away, my knees
were shaking and my smile must have been a mile wide. The girls had
to pull me down to earth when we reached Rue 57 for cocktails, so that
I could get in the door. We all talked about the play and how friendly
everyone was. I tried to call another friend to let her know we had
seen the play and had a terrific time, but it was very loud in there and
she was working so she will just have to live vicariously through this
report. Finally it was time to call it a day. We all headed
for our respective homes for the evening to dream and revue all of the
excitement. I would be hard pressed to imagine a better day!